Marine outdrive latch



Oct. 7, 1969 JOHNS ETAL 3,470,844

MARINE OUTDRIVE LATCH Filed Jan. 4, 1968 I 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS MARVIN D. JOHNS HAL W, BREWER maf y ATTORNEY Oct. 7, 1969 M. o. JOHNS ETAL 3,470,844

MARINE OUTDRIVE LATCH Filed Jan. 4, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 7 I l a 2a :0 l J a4 30 FIG. 4

INVENTORS' MARVIND. JOHNS HAL W. BREWER ATTORNEY Oct. 7,1969 M,D.JQH-S ETAL 3,470,844

MARINE OUTDRIVE LATCH Filed Jan. 4. 1968 I 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 m vENToRs MARVIN D. JOHNS HAL w. BREWER ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,470,844 MARINE OUTDRIVE LATCH Marvin D. Johns and Hal W. Brewer, Fort Wayne, Ind.,

assignors to Dana Corporation, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Virginia Filed Jan. 4, 1968, Ser. No. 695,619 Int. Cl. B63h 5/06, 1/14 U.S. Cl. 11541 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A latch arrangement for a marine drive unit in which a pair of commonly pivoted latches are spring biased and disposed so as to engage a common abutment means so that the lower latch prevents release for pivoting of the marine drive unit when the marine drive is in reverse gear and the downwardly disposed upper latch, commonly pivoted with the reverse latch, prevents pivoting of the marine drive unit in neutral and forward gear under propulsion conditions while still permitting the marine drive unit to kick up when it encounters a waterborne obstruction.

Marine latch units are known wherein spring biased latch means are mounted between an outboard power leg and relatively stationary portion of the marine drive unit to prevent pivoting of the unit into a tilted up position. But most of these units do not effectively release upon meeting a waterborne obstruction or do not positively limit the swing up of the marine drive unit under normal operating conditions in reverse, forward and neutral positions of the marine drive.

Although an application, owned by the same assignee as the instant application, entitled Marine Outdrive Latch and filed on Feb. 27, 1967, and having the Ser. No. 618,706, discloses a marine latch arrangement curing the above deficiencies, this marine latch arrangement must be made of such a size, to be effective, that it cannot be utilized in all types of marine drive units. The area available for installation of the marine latch is limited in these marine drive arrangements so that a different latch arrangement of smaller dimensions must be utilized.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a latch arrangement for a marine drive unit which is compact and yet positively insures kick up of the unit upon encountering a waterborne obstruction.

It is an additional object of this invention to provide a positive latching arrangement for a marine drive unit wherein pivoting for kick up is provided in forward and neutral drive positions under normal operating conditions.

It is a further object of the invention to insure positive, predetermined kick up of the marine drive unit upon impact with a waterborne obstruction by positive resilient loading of the forward latch.

It is yet a further object of the invention to resiliently load the reverse latch independently of the forward latch to insure positive engagement thereof independent of the action of the forward latch when the marine drive unit is in reverse.

Other and further objects of this invention will be apparent from the following description and appended claims and may be understood by reference to the ac companying drawings which, by way of illustration, show a preferred embodiment of the invention and what is considered to be the best mode for applying the above principles.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention a pair of latch assemblies are commonly pivoted on a pivot means on a yoke that carries the outboard leg of a power drive unit. These latch assemblies are resiliently urged towards each other to lockingly surround a locking pin means mounted on that portion of the marine drive unit which is vertically fixed relative to the boat. The lower latch assembly provides locking for reverse drive and is resiliently urged to pivot upwardly and into locking engagement with the pin means and serves as the lock for the outboard power leg for the marine drive in reverse gear. In forward and neutral gear positions, urging means abuts a bent portion of the lower latch assembly and pivotally urges it clockwise downwardly out of locking relationship with the pin means. The urging means is controlled by the shift lever linkage for the marine drive unit.

The forward latch assembly assumes a locking position around the pin means for all transmission positions of the marine drive unit, this latch being urged to locking position by a separate resilient mounting means mounted with the outdrive power leg unit. This latch assembly is also provided with a bent hook means arrangement mounted on the forward latch assembly adjacent the pin means for manually moving this latch to disengaged position. The forward latch means is spring loaded by a precompressed coil spring which is preloaded so as to be capable of upset so that the latch means may pivot out of engagement with the locking pin means upon the marine drive unit encountering an obstruction which imposes an impacting load thereagainst. Because of the geometry of this latch assembly and the spring biased lever, this latch assembly is incapable of locking the marine drive unit in reverse gear so that such locking must be accomplished by the lower latch assembly.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side view partly in section of the marine drive unit and included latch means with the marine drive unit in reverse drive;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view partially in section of a portion of FIG. 1 showing the latch means and related actuating elements with the marine drive unit in neutral drive;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the upper and lower latch assemblies and resilient biasing means therefor;

FIG. 4 is an end view of the resilient mount for the latch assembly; and

FIG. 5 is a partial plan view of the yoke and resilient biasing means for the reverse latch.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings and specifically to FIG. 1, there is shown a marine drive unit 10 having a relatively fixed portion formed by a motor housing 12 and an outboard power leg 14 mounted for vertical pivotal movement by means of a pivot arrangement 16 mounted in the legs of a Y-shaped yoke 18. The outboard power leg 14 may, thus, be easily pivoted vertically from a downwardly disposed power drive position to an upwardly disposed position for performance of maintenance and to avoid any obstructions in the water. The outboard power leg 14 includes an upper housing portion 20 and -a lower housing portion 22, these housing portions enclosing the gear drive for the propeller 21 mounted on the lower housing portion 22.

Steering of the boat is accomplished through movement of a yoke member 18 around a vertical axis 24, 24 formed by a pivot means (not shown) so that steering for the marine drive unit 10 through the outboard power leg 14 may be easily accomplished. Thus, thrust is provided by the propeller 21 against the water so that a boat having the marine drive unit 10 mounted thereon may be easily propelled through the water and, by the turning of the outboard power leg 14, the boat may be steered in a rightwardly or leftwardly direction.

Turning to FIGS. 25, a latching means 26 is provided to lock the outboard power leg 14 and the yoke 18 relative to each other and prevent undesired kick up of the outboard power leg when propulsion thrust is being delivered by the marine drive unit 10. This latching means includes a pin locking member 32 and a pair of latch assemblies 28 and 30 resiliently mounted and pivoted so as to be engageable therewith to prevent thrust transmitted from the propeller from urging the outboard power leg 14 out of the water. The pin locking member 32 may be mounted in any one of a series of bores 33, 33 so as to adjust the trim of the marine drive unit 10.

As is best seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the forward latch assembly 28 is disposed in nested relationship with the reverse latch assembly 30. A pin means 34 mounted fixed with respect to the yoke 18 extends outwardly therefrom and pivotally mounts the latch assemblies 28 and 30 for pivoting on a common pivot point. A cotter pin 36, on each side of the pin means 34, extends through a bore 38 extending transversely through the pin means to limit movement of the cotter pin relative to the yoke 18 (FIG. 2). The latch assemblies 28 and 30, thus, bear against a portion of the yoke 18 so as to be disposed encompassingly thereon to be bearingly and pivotally mounted on the pin means 34.

The forward latch assembly 28 comprises an outer kick up lever 40 and an inner kick up lever 42. The outer kick up lever 40 is generally clevis shaped in cross section with the inner kick up lever 42 disposed in a nesting relationship with the outer kick up lever 40 by being disposed between a pair of leg portions 44, 44 of the clevis shape. The leg portions 44, 44 extend in a somewhat angular relationship to the inner kick up lever 42 and are each provided with a bore 45 near their ends for reception of the pivot pin means 34. Leg portions 44, 44 also each have a bore 46 extending therethrough for reception of a pin means 48, said pin means extending beyond the leg portions 44, 44 outwardly of the outer kick up lever 40. The major portion of the pin means 48 extends between the leg portions 44, 44 and through the bores 46, 46 and is held in this position by a pair of cotter pins 52, 52 extending through transverse bores 53, 53 in the pin means 48. An upstanding portion 54 extending generally vertically on the outer kick up lever 40 intermediate the leg portions 44, 44 provides an abutting surface for reception of the inner kick up lever 42 thereagainst so as to place the inner kick up lever in a generally vertical position prior to upset. An angular portion 56 attached to the upstanding portion 54 extends angularly downwardly away from the upstanding portion 54 and is attached to the leg portions 44, 44. Thus, the outer kick up lever 40 is of general U-shape with the leg portions 44, 44 of the U attached to the angularly bent portion comprising the angular portion 56.

The inner kick up lever 42 is somewhat similar to the strike member on any lock and is of generally T-shape, the T-shape being formed by a pair of ears 58, 58 extending at rightward angles near one end of the inner kick up lever 42 opposite the end of the inner kick up lever forming the striking surface. A depression 59, generally of rectangular shape, is provided in the thickened leg of the T portion of the inner kick up lever 42 opposite the strike surface of the inner kick up lever. The purpose of this depression is that of a weight relief, i.e., to save on material costs. A pair of bores 60, 60 extend through a pair of longitudinal portions 62, 62 of the inner kick up lever 42 which border the depression 59. The bores 60 and 60 provide for the mounting of a pin member 48 which extends therethrough and through the bores 46, 46 of the outer kick up lever so as to pivotally mount the inner kick up lever relative to the outer kick up lever 40. A flattened portion 64 on the inner kick up lever abuts against the upstanding portion 54 of the outer kick up lever 40 so that these two portions are in alignment, thus the inner kick up lever 42 is positively located relative to the outer kick up lever 40 except upon upset. The inner kick up lever 42, beyond the depression 59, is provided with a cutaway notched portion 100 which abuts against and nestingly conforms with the pin locking member 32.

By this arrangement, locking engagement is had between the pin locking member 32 and forward latch 28.

Mounted so as to extend into a clearance hole 76 on the housing 12 are a pair of bolt and nut assemblies 66, 68 respectively, these nut and bolt assemblies also extend in a general horizontal plane towards the yoke 18. Mounted on each of the bolts 67 of each of the nut and bolt assemblies 66, 68 is a coil spring 70, one end of each coil spring 70 abutting a fiat surface 65 on the flattened portion 63 of the outer kick up lever and the outer end of each of the coil springs abutting against a pilot nut 72 threaded on each of the bolts 67, 67, each of the said pilot nuts 72 extending partially into the clearance hole 76 in the housing 12. The pilot nut 72 is of generally hat shape in cross section to provide a rim 78 extending around the periphery of the pilot nut 72. The piloting member 72 thereby supplies a seat formed by the rim 78 and a centering means formed by the crown portion 77 of the pilot nut 72 to center the coil spring 70 and prevent misalignment of it so "that positive upset is provided. As is set out previously, the opposite end of the coil spring 70 abuts against the flattened portion 63 of the outer kick up lever 40 to thereby urge the inner and outer kick up levers into abutting position and inner kick up notched portion 100 into engagement with the pin 32.

The coil springs 70 are designed, and precompressed by the tightening of each of the nuts 75, so as to provide a precalculated preload prior to upset. Upset occurs when the outboard power leg 14 abuts against an obstruction in the water. Impact loading of this impinging shock (with the reverse latch 30 disengaged) is transmitted through the power leg 14 to the steering yoke 18 and through the pin 34 which pulls the forward latch against the pin 32 causing the forward latch to pivot in the following manner. Outer kick up lever 40 pulls the pin 48 in a counterclockwise direction tending to turn the inner kick up lever 42 in a clockwise direction adjacent its abutment with the coil springs 70, 70 against the urging of the coil springs 70, 70. If the force of impingement is of suificient magnitude, the coil springs, 70, 70 are compressed and the inner kick up lever 42 rotates clockwise until an abutment portion 80 thereon moves against the angular portion 56 of the outer kick up lever 40. This moves the inner kick up lever 42 a sufiicient distance clockwise so that it clears the locking pin means 32 so that the outboard power leg 14 and yoke 18 may swing counterclockwise to permit kick up of the outboard power leg 14 and allow the boat and marine drive unit 10 to pass over the obstruction without damage.

In order to insure proper upsetting of the inner kick up lever 42 during forward or neutral drive positions of the marine drive unit 10, the force of coil spring 70 must be selected so that its force is insuflrcient to prevent upset and vertical kick up of the outboard power leg 14 when it is placed in reverse drive, the thrust of the propeller in this position being sufficient to overcome preloading caused by the coil spring 70.

In order to provide positive locking of the marine drive unit in reverse drive, a reverse latch 82 of general U- shape in cross section having legs 84, 84 is utilized. A bight portion 86 of the reverse latch 82 connects the two legs 84, 84 and includes an upstanding portion of 88 extending upwardly and centered relative to the linear dimension of the bight with the legs 84, 84 extending around and encompassing in a nesting relation a portion of the outer kick up lever 40. The upstanding portion 88 includes a bent tang portion 90 that provides a convenient engagement point for manual or automatic movement of the reverse latch 82 to a disengaged position from the pin means 32.

The reverse latch 82 is pivoted, as set out previously, on the pin means 34 and is constantly urged clockwise into engaged position by means of a bent leaf spring 92 disposed between the bent tang portion 90 and an abutting surface 94 on the yoke member 18. Engagement between the reverse latch 82 and locking pin means 32 occurs by engagement of a notch 102 on the reverse latch with the locking pin means 32. The bent tang portion 90 is positioned so as to be engageable by a rounded end portion 96 of an interlock member 98 connected to the shift mechanism 99 (FIG. 1) for the power for the marine drive unit. 10. The interlock 98 engages the bent tang portion 90 through its rounded end 96 whenever the marine drive unit is in forward or neutral drive thus urging the reverse latch 82 in a clockwise direction away from the pin locking member'32. In this position, the reverse latch 82 does not engage the pin member. Thus, the bent leaf spring 92 only provides for locking of the reverse latch 82 when the marine drive unit is in reverse drive.

Upon kick up, in either forward or neutral gear, provision is made to permit the marine drive unit to return to locked and trimmed position. As the inner and outer kick up leavers 40, 42 swing clockwise with the outboard power leg 14 back towards engaged position (from kick up position) with the pin locking means 32, a cam surface 104 on the inner kick up lever 42 abuts the locking pin means 32 urging the outer kick up lever 40 to rotate counterclockwise about the pin 34 carrying the inner kick up lever 42 therewith. Positive location of the cam surface 104 is obtained by the use of a pin means 127 which limits clockwise swinging of the inner and outer kick up levers 42, 40 by abutment therewith. The just related camming action permits the inner kick up lever 42 to swing sufiiciently far counterclockwise so that it passes over the pin locking means 32 and again assumes the position illustrated in FIG 2, the force of gravity being sufiicient to insure this positioning.

At the same time, if the marine drive unit 10 is in reverse gear in kick up position it cannot again assume the latched, trim position illustrated in FIG. 1. A vertical, straight surface 106 forming the rightward extremity of the reverse latch 82 forms an abutting surface which engages the pin locking means 32 on downward swing preventing full latching from occurring. A shift of the marine drive unit into forward or neutral drive is sufficient to provide latching engagement of the marine drive unit 10 as shown in FIG. 1 since the reverse latch assembly has been moved to a non interfering position with the locking pin means 32.

Manual release of the reverse latch 82, as set out previously, is provided by the bent tang portion 90. Manipulation of this portion of the latch 82 in a counterclockwise direction releases its engagement with the pin locking means 32 so that no obstruction is offered by this latch to upward swinging of the outboard power leg 14. In order to manually release the forward latch, a latch release handle 108 is provided, this latch release handle is generally in the form of a right angle bent lever in end view and extends transversely to the major portion of the forward latch in assembled position. The latch release handle 108 is attached to the outer kick up lever 40 by means of an car 110 integral with the outer kick up lever that extends firstly transversely to the major linear direction of the forward latch and secondly at a right angle thereto so as to provide a substantially parallel portion 111 to the angular portions 44, 44 of the outer kick up lever 40. A pair of bores 112, 112 in the parallel extending portion 111 of the car 110 provides for insertion of a pair of machined, threaded screws 113, 113 which are threadedly received in a pair of threaded bores 114, 114 of a portion 115 of the latch release handle 108. By this structural arrangement, sufiicient leverage is provided by the latch release handle 108 so that the forward latch assembly 28 may be easily released by an upward force exerted thereon by an operator desiring to manually move the outboard power leg 14 to kick up position.

It should be clear from the foregoing description that the objects of the invention have been fully obtained by the mechanism described and that a marine drive latch means being compact in design and having positive locking characteristics and also positive kick up is provided.

While only a single embodiment of this invention has been shown and described, it is understood that many changes can be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a marine drive unit having an outboard power leg member, the combination comprising: (a) a relatively immovable member, (b) a pivot means for pivotally mounting said outboard power leg member for vertical pivotal movement about said relatively immovable member, (c) latch engaging means mounted on one of said members, (d) latch means pivotally mounted on the other of said members, (e) a portion of said latch means providing a reversing latching function and resiliently urged upwardly into engagement with said latch engaging means, said portion of said latch means including an upwardly opening notch means for engaging said latch engaging means, (f) a portion of said latch means including a downwardly depending latching element resiliently urged sidewardly into engagement with said latch engaging means and having a cutaway notched portion opening generally sidewardly for engaging said latch engaging means, said downwardly depending latching element being in confronting, opposed relationship to said portion of said latch means providing a reversing latching function, and (g) an angularly extending lever extending between said latching element and said latch means pivotal mounting whereby said outboard power leg is latchingly attached to said relatively immovable member.

2. In a marine drive unit having an outboard power leg member mounted with a yoke member for steering movement, the combination comprising: (a) a relatively immovable fixed housing, (b) a pivot means for pivotally mounting said yoke for vertical pivoting, (c) latch engaging means mounted on said relatively immovable fixed housing, (d) latch means pivotally mounted on said yoke member, (e) said latch means including a reverse latch, (f) spring means constantly biasing said reverse latch upwardly into engagement with said latch engaging means, (g) said reverse latch including a bent tang portion for urging said reverse latch away from engagement with said latch engaging means, (b) said latch means including a forward latch, said forward latch ineluding an angularly extending portion extending upwardly from said pivot means, (i) an abutment means on said angularly extending portion, and (j) a downwardly extending latching element engaging said abutment means and said latch engaging means, said downwardly extending latching element being urged to said position by coil spring means acting between said latchmg element and said fixed housing.

3. In a marine drive unit having an outboard power leg member mounted with a yoke member for steering movement, the combination comprising: (a) a relatively immovable fixed housing, (b) a pivot means for pivotally mounting said yoke for vertical pivoting, (c) latch engaging means mounted on said relatively immovable fixed housing, (d) latch means pivotally mounted on said yoke member, (e) said latch means including a reverse latch and a forward latch, (f) said reverse latch receiving nestingly a portion of said forward latch, (g) said forward and reverse latch engaging said latch engaging means and being pivoted as a common pivot on said yoke member, and (h) said forward latch including an angular portion extending for common pivot as a downwardly depending latch element pivotally attached to said angular portion.

4. In a marine drive unit having an outboard power leg member mounted with a yoke member for steering movement, the combination comprising: (a) a relatively immovable fixed housing, (b) a pivot means for pivotally mounting said yoke means for vertical pivoting, (c) pin means serving as a latch engaging element mounted on said relatively immovable fixed housing, (d) a reverse latch means of general U-shape including a bight portion and a pair of leg portions extending toward said pin means, (e) an upstanding portion integral with said bight portion and terminating in a bent tang portion providing an abutting operating surface, (f) pivot means for mounting said reverse latch means on said yoke means, (g) leaf spring means disposed between said yoke means and said upstanding portion of said reverse latch means for urging said reverse latch into engagement with said pin means, (h) forward latch means pivotally mounted on said pivot means mounting said reverse latch means, (i) said forward latch means including an element generally U-shaped in cross section, the leg portion of said element extending angularly from said pivot means in nesting relationship between said legs of said reverse latch, (i) said legs being connected together by a bight portion of said U-shape, (k) said bight portion including an inclined portion and a vertical portion, (1) said vertical portion providing a first abutting surface and said inclined portion providing a second abutting surface, (m) a latch striker element pivotally disposed between the legs of said forward latch and abutting said first abutting surface when said striker element is generally vertically disposed and engaging said second abutting surface when said latch element is pivoted to an upset position, and (n) coil spring means disposed between said latch striker element and said relatively immovable fixed housing.

5. In a marine drive unit having an outboard power leg member as set forth in claim 4 wherein said coil spring means are engaged and guided by a hat shaped element fixed relative thereto.

6. In a marine drive unit having an outboard power leg member as set forth in claim 4 wherein said reverse latch means includes abutting means for preventing reengagement of said reverse latch upon downward swinging of said outboard power leg.

7. In a marine drive unit having an outboard power leg member, the combination comprising: (a) a relatively immovable member, (b) a pivot means for pivotally mounting said outboard power leg member for vertical pivotal movement about said relative immovable member, (c) latch engaging means mounted on one of said members, (d) latch means pivotally mounted on the other of said members, (e) said latch means including a downwardly depending latch element engageable with said latch engaging element and an angularly extending link pivotally attached to said downwardly depending latch element, (f) said angularly extending link being clevis shaped and having two parallel, laterally spaced arms forming the generally linear extent of the said angularly extending link, (g) said latch element being disposed between said two parallel spaced arms and being in abutting relationship with at least a portion of said angularly extending link, and (h) resilient means acting directly between said angularly extending link and said latch element whereby said latch element is resiliently loaded against disengagement from said latch engaging element.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS TRYGVE M. BLIX, Primary Examiner 

